Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Thanksgiving Casserole Recipe

I've always enjoyed Thanksgiving as a day of cooking, spending time with family, and, most importantly, feasting on a traditional spread of Thanksgiving day foods. Even though the sales are starting earlier and earlier every year, I still like to relax on turkey day with lots of food and family. Of course there is usually a lot of tasty stuff leftover, and it can be used in many ways to make a hearty meal after a long day of shopping on Black Friday.

This year, I was itching for a Thanksgiving casserole bursting with delicious leftovers. I wanted cranberry sauce, stuffing, turkey, gravy, and veggies layered together to make one perfect bite. Think: your entire Thanksgiving day plate in each bite. Since I'm posting this a week early, I made the ingredients separately and combined them as if they were leftovers. The end result was delicious because it mixes salty, sweet, soft, crunchy, tangy, and creamy in every mouthful. I can't wait to do this after my actual Thanksgiving day feast!

Thanksgiving Casserole Recipe

Ingredients

3 cupswhite and dark turkey

3 cupsStuffing

2 cupsbaby carrots

14.5 ounce canFrench cut green beans

1 cupmayonnaise

1/2 cupcranberry sauce

1/4 cupshredded cheddar cheese

Cooking Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Boil the baby carrots in 3 quarts of water until soft. If desired, cook with 2 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of brown sugar in a saucepan for 5 minutes on low heat.

In a 13x9 casserole dish, place the cooked baby carrots on the bottom and spread them out to cover the dish.

Spread the green beans out on top of the carrots.

Cut the turkey meat into small pieces and place it on top of the green beans.

In a small bowl, combine the mayo and cranberry sauce. Mix until smooth and pink.

Spread the mayo mixture on top of the turkey and then cover with the stuffing.

Top the casserole with cheese, cover with foil, and then cook for about 45 minutes.

Allow the casserole to cool and then pour some yummy turkey gravy on top!

After making this casserole and using the cranberry sauce with mayo mixture, I've decided that cranberry mayo should definitely be a thing! The color is beautiful, and I love the combination of creamy and tangy. It would work perfectly with a leftover turkey sando.